Percy Jackson: The War of Revenge
by CarrissaNoelleND
Summary: Six classmates are living normal lives, until the goddess of revenge tries to kill them. Will Val, Cinder, Sam, Ashton, Colin, and Chris survive? Read on as the group puts their lives on the line, as they train at Camp Half Blood, and as they discover their true purposes in life. *THIS TAKES PLACE AFTER THE LAST OLYMPIAN AND BEFORE HEROES OF OLYMPUS
1. Chapter 1: Val's POV

Chapter 1: Someone Unexpectedly Wins: Valerie's POV

It all started with an assembly. Another stupid school "Students of the Month" assembly. Sure, I got an award every time, but it was always for things like "they got an A+ on their physics midterm". Students were never recognized for their good leadership or outstanding citizenship. It was always academics.

I sat with Cinder, my best friend, in the third row of the auditorium. Cinder and I have been friends since preschool. It's strange though, because were actually pretty different. I get straight As; she gets straight Cs. I'm on the student council; she despises any kind of school program or club. I'm the official teacher's pet; she gets detention about three times every week. But despite our differences as people, we both have the same interests. We are hardcore fangirls for Castle, Johnny Depp, Sherlock Holmes, etc. We both love plays; I'm on the stage and she's in the wardrobe department. I could go on.

We also both didn't have our mothers. My dad said she left as soon as I was born. Cinder's dad said he met her at a bar about a year before she was born, and when she was, the mother found Cinder's dad and gave Cinder to him without a word. We always thought it was kind of peculiar, seeing as our birthdays are on the same day and we're both dyslexic and have ADHD.

"I wonder who'll get an award…" she said to me with a sarcastic tone. She pushed a strand of her short, dirty blond hair off of her face. She always streaked it with wild colors. This month's color was bright orange.

"Oh, you'll so get one Cinder." I countered. She was fluent in the language of sarcasm, but so was I.

"Pfft, as if Val. What would I get one for? 'She scored 67% on her European history midterm…'"

"You told me you got an 82% on that!"

"Well, I… lied?" she said while smiling apologetically.

"We've talked about this Cinder…"

"I know, I know. 'Cinder, I don't want you to have to repeat your 8th grade year. If you don't, I'll be stuck going to high school with Chris.'" She quoted me.

"Shut up! Sorry if I don't want to go to high school with an alcoholic!" We laughed. It was moments like this that we cherished. Of course, we hoped that Chris couldn't here us.

The principal stepped up and cleared his throat, and the chatter amongst the students quickly stopped.

"Good afternoon students. I am happy to announce that there were many students this month who made "Student of the Month". Now, this first outstanding student is… Valerie Hanson!" the principal said.

Cinder gave me a quick, "Nice Val." and a high five as I walked to the front of the auditorium. I shook the principal's hand and took my lousy piece of paper, er, "Certificate of Outstanding Achievement" and sat down in one of the six chairs set up at the front of the auditorium. I took a look at my certificate, which stated my achievement in acing my French exam.

"Next, we have Samona Ripalang!" he continued.

Samona, or Sam as everyone called her, was a smart girl. It didn't surprise me that she was called up. Unlike me, though, she was shy. She was the president of the gardening club. She mumbled "Hi." to me as she sat two seats down from me.

"Now, Colin Colins!"

There was a snicker in the audience. Poor Colin, his name was just too funny to not laugh at. But he was a pretty popular guy. In fact, his best friend was the most popular guy in the school…

"Ashton Fliter."

Speak of the devil. My heart skipped a beat.

_Pull yourself together!_, I thought, _Every girl has a crush on him because of his looks and his charm and his wit… Oh! Don't get caught up in that Val!_

He headed to the seat next to Colin, but on the way he gave me a smirk.

_GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!_

Sure, Ashton was cute and popular, but he never flirted with anyone.

_ Shut up! It was just a smirk. He could've done that to anyone. Alright now, deep breaths. In… Out… In… Out…_

When Sam looked over at me with a quizzical look, I stopped my breathing exercise.

"Next up is, Chris Stupler!"

There were a lot of "WHAT?"s coming from the audience. Chris was the guy Cinder and I had been talking about earlier. An alcoholic and a druggie. How did he get student of the month?

He came over and wink and me, starting to sit down. But I gave him the dagger eyes and he quickly moved to the other seat in between Ashton and Sam.

"One seat left, one person… And that person is… Ella Genovian!"

"WHAT?" Everyone in the auditorium said.

Ella is Cinder's real name. I was most shocked of all. Cinder got up and shook the principal's hand. She came and sat next to me.

Everyone was all buzzed about Chris and Cinder getting awards, so there was a lot of talking going on. I took this to my advantage.

"How?" I asked her.

"It says 'For incredible achievement in Euro Hist.'" she said.

"That's not possible though, you're failing that class, right?"

"Yeah, and also, you'd think they'd fully spell out 'European History' on my certificate?"

"Ahem," The principal interrupted the conversations around the room, "Now, the students of the month will now be taken to lunch at 'Garcia's' by the substitute algebra teacher, Ms. Nemi. You're all excused."

_That's weird, usually the principal takes us… Why is a sub taking us? And how did Cinder and Chris get awards?_

Cinder saw the confused look in my eyes, and she shrugged.

"Don't worry about I Val. I mean, hey, we get free food!"

I took her advice and walked out to the rental van with everyone else, never to return to the school.


	2. Chapter 2: Val's POV

Chapter 2: We are saved by a Goat Man: Val's POV

We took one of those rental vans to Garcia's, the local Mexican restaurant. Everyone here loves Garcia's, however, it was pretty much empty on this school day; save for the staff and three men in business suits sitting in the corner booth.

The lunch was… well… awkward. No one said anything. The only sound was the echo of us using our silverware in the big restaurant. Cinder and I went to Garcia's together every week, twice a week since we were kids, and we still got lost in the giant place.

I sat in between Cinder and Ashton. We all sat on one side of the table, near the windows, while Ms. Nemi, our chaperone, sat near the exit of this section of the restaurant. It was a very peculiar set-up. 'Almost like she's guarding us…' I thought.

After around 20 minutes of silence, Ms. Nemi spoke up.

"So, Cinder, Chris. It's quite exciting that you two got in, hmm?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Chris said.

"Sure." Cinder agreed.

"Well, Val, I hear you're at the top of your class!" Ms. Nemi changed the subject abruptly "Despite your dyslexia? And ADHD? How intriguing!"

She hit a soft spot. I didn't like talking about my disorders; it made me feel like a weaker person. As if everyone around me was bigger, and I was just small and afraid.

"Well, um, I-"

"In fact," she continued, "All of you have dyslexia and ADHD! How extraordinary!"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats. This wasn't exactly the academic chatter I expected to go on at this lunch…

'Something's going on,' I thought, 'Ms. Nemi has some sort of point to this, but what?'

"Ms. Nemi, I hate to be rude here, but what's your point?" Colin said, like he was reading my mind.

"My point? Well… How do I put this?..."

It all happened so quickly. She sprang up and pushed the table—and us—into the window. I was surprised it didn't shatter. Then, Ms. Nemi, she… she glowed… and then she was wearing a white tunic with golden embroidery, like some ancient Greek person.

She smiled at us, "I don't believe I've properly introduced myself. I am Nemesis, the ancient Greek goddess… of revenge."

"WHAT?" We all shouted in unison.

"Surprised you, didn't I? Well, I suppose I got to you before that annoying little camp did… Ah, well, I guess I must do the explaining then…"

"Wh-what explaining?" Sam said with less confidence than a piece of bread.

"Pitiful. You? You're supposed to be the most powerful child of Demeter, huh? I doubt my sources are that reliable for that to be true. The rest of you, with the exception of the drunkard here," she pointed to Chris, "seem like very powerful demigods."

Cinder and I both sprang up. We had studied Greek mythology together for a project in 7th grade together.

"Demigods," Cinder mumbled, "are the offspring of a god or goddess and a human… But that's just-"

"Ancient myth? I think not." Nemesis smirked.

"So," I finally gained the confidence to speak up, "You're saying that we're the children of gods? And, by default, you're saying that these ancient Greek gods still exist in modern times? In America?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying. They've been here this whole time. Do you remember that natural disaster that happened in New York earlier this year?"

"Sure," Ashton said, "It's not exactly easy to forget something that almost wiped out Manhattan."

I remembered it too. Sure, we lived across the country in Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego, California, but that didn't mean we didn't watch the news.

"That 'natural disaster' was actually a war between the gods and the titans. And after that war, the gods promised to claim all of their demigod children. They're still searching for them. But I was lucky to find you first."

"So, then what do you want with us?" Chris asked.

"Well, I saw a vision that, in the future, the six of you would be my downfall. And I can't let that happen. So, instead, I will eliminate you. And once I do, I'll be in trouble. So, instead of enduring eternal punishment, I will take over Olympus, the home of the gods, and the world."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Sam started sobbing, and Chris took a small bottle out of his pocket and started drinking it. When Cinder raised an eyebrow at him, he said, "One last drink before I die."

"No," Ashton and I both, surprisingly, said at the same time.

"You won't get us," Ashton continued, "We'll fight you."

Nemesis laughed, "That's what I love about you demigods! You're so ignorant. I can't fight you unless you attack first. And I'm sure you don't want to fight a goddess unarmed, now, do you?"

"Then how are you going to 'eliminate' us, as you said?" I yelled. I was getting riled up. If this person knew something about my mom, and who she was, but wanted to take me away from her… I just couldn't let her.

Nemesis snapped her fingers and the three business men in the corner stood up and walked over to us. Once they were at her side, Nemesis snapped her fingers again and the business men turned into…

"Hellhounds." Cinder and I said. We had read about them during our project.

"I'm afraid only celestial bronze will defeat them… and seeing as you're new to the demigod thing, I doubt you carry swords around."

It was then that the hellhounds pounced.

We split up and ran in three directions. Colin and Ashton ran left, while Chris and Sam scurried through the right corridor. Cinder and I swiftly ran past Nemesis. The three hellhounds ran in the three directions we went.

We ran to the front of the restaurant. Francisco Garcia was at the bar.

Cinder shouted, "Help us! We're going to die!"

I don't know what was going through Francisco's head, because he did nothing but say, "Crazy kids these days…"

The hellhound drew closer, ready to attack.

"It was nice knowing you Val!" Cinder cried.

I gulped back tears. "Same here."

But then, the roof caved in on the hellhound. A chunk of roof flew at Francisco's head, and he was knocked unconscious.

"What the heck was that?" Cinder yelled.

The smoke began to clear, and we discovered that the thing that hit the roof was… a chariot.

Two people were in the chariot, if you could call them people. There was a girl with pale green skin who looked to be about eighteen. She had a dress made of white silk, and hair that was braided down her back. The guy with her also looked about eighteen, but he had, well… the lower body of a goat.

"Need some help?" The goat boy said?

Cinder and I were still in shock.

"Geesh, don't talk my ears off. Nice to meet you too. You know, I'm only saving your lives."

"Um, sorry." I said, "I'm Valerie, and this is Cinder."

He shook my hand, "Grover. The name's Grover."


	3. Chapter 3: Cinder's POV

Chapter 3: We all Become Cat People: Cinder's POV

I always thought being blonde was overrated, so I always highlight my hair every month with some crazy color. The color for this month was bright orange. Such an underrate color, and it complemented my bright light blue eyes quite well. However, some people say my peaceful looking face is always outshined by my crazy clothing. I guess I'm kind of going for a punk look.

The nickname came from Cinderella, obviously. My real name is Ella Genovian, but I'm obsessed with shoes, so my dad nicknamed me Cinderella when I was little. As I grew up, I began to dislike my real name more and more, and decided to go by the other part of my nickname, Cinder. I also thought my last name sounded too frilly and soft, so now I'm known as Cinder Genv. At least I'm not going by some princess name anymore.

But even a fairytale ending couldn't help me in my current situation. I was being chased by a hellhound with my best friend. That is, until Hooves, I mean Grover, showed up with that weird green girl. Then again, weird was good in my book.

"Okay then, Grover, can you explain what's going on here?" I asked.

He sighed, "Right now, no. We have to save your friends from the other hellhounds first."

The green girl next to him cleared her throat, "I think you're forgetting something Grover…"

"Oh, right." He took a long, goldish sword out of the chariot and stabbed the hellhound which we had thought had been crushed by the rubble. The hellhound turned into dust.

He looked up at us, "Celestial Bronze; the only way to kill monsters. I only have one sword with me, but we'll get you weapons when we get to camp."

Camp. There was that word again. Nemesis had first said it when she mentioned that she got to us before the camp did…

"What kind of camp is this?" Val asked. She must have been thinking the same thing as me. That happened to us a lot. It's kind of like how people say that twins are telepathic, except we're not twins, or related, as a matter of fact.

Grover ignored the question started jogging to another section of the restaurant. The green girl blocked us just as we started to follow.

"It's okay…" she said in a soft voice, "I'm Juniper, Grover's girlfriend."

"Yeah, great time for introductions. Now we got to save the others!" I shouted.

"No," she said, "you have no proper training. You could get seriously hurt or worse…"

"So you're fine with sending out your boyfriend Hooves rather than two chicks you've just met?" I raised the volume. I tended to do that a little often with my ADHD.

"Foolish demigod!" she screamed, "How dare you insult a Cloven Elder and his bride!"

"Wait, whoa, bride?" Val perked up, "You two seem kind of young and furry for marriage..."

Juniper let her guard down for a split second to explain, but Val and I darted past her just as she opened her mouth.

"Hey! Get back here!" she shouted helplessly at us.

We turned a corner and saw Chris and Sam huddled in a corner and Hooves passed out, sword in hand, on the ground.

"That didn't take long…" I murmured.

Then Val did something stupid, but awesome. She ran to Hooves and picked up the sword. The hellhound growled and she charged. I thought she was going to die. Why did this have to be the first irrational decision of her life?

She hit it.

It shriveled into dust upon contact. Val started coughing in the mini sand storm she had just created. Chris and Sam came over to us.

"Dude! That was amazing!" Chris screamed, "You, like, picked up the sword and was like 'YAAAAHHH' and the hellhound thing was like 'RRROOOOAAAARRR' and then it was like 'CLING' and then it was like 'POOF'!"

There was a brief awkward silence.

"Aside from the obvious facts that Chris has stated, that was incredible." I studied her tired expression a little more, "Are you okay, Val?"

She coughed again in the dust of the deceased, "The sword's… kind of… heavy…"

I took it from her. It felt kind of… good in my hands. As if I had been meant to hold a sword my entire life. "I've got this."

I ran forward to the next section of the restaurant. Val followed closely behind, but Chris and Sam stayed behind with Hooves, trying to wake him up.

Ashton and Colin had managed to run around the restaurant for a bit, only to end up back where Nemesis began the fight. The window was shattered now, and the guys were pelting the hellhound with pieces of broken glass.

Colin took his eyes off of hellhound for a second and acknowledged us.

"Ashton, look!" he yelled with glee.

Ashton looked around the hellhound and a smile quickly appeared on his face. No, it wasn't a smile that I was going to save them with a giant sword. It was a smile that Val was here.

Val has been crushing on Ashton for as long as I can remember. But she's too shy to ever make her move. But I'm pretty good at reading people; I can tell that Ashton likes her too. However, every time I tell Val this, she dismisses the idea. She doesn't think she's good enough for Ashton.

But I think she is. She's pushed past her dyslexia and ADHD to become an amazing student. She has a reputation as one of the nicest girls in the school. I'm not only her best friend, but her opposite.

I get horrible grades. I have a 'bad attitude', as the school counselor says. I go to detention at least twice every week.

Luckily, Val looked past that part of me (though most people don't), and saw me for the funny, creative chick I am. That's something awesome about Val, she always sees good in people, no matter what.

That, however, does not apply to hellhounds that are trying to kill us.

The hellhound turned at the same moment Ashton looked at Val. I ran towards it, swiftly swinging the sword. I missed my first jab and the hellhound hit me with its paw. I flew back into Val.

At the same time, Colin shouted "Cinder!" and Ashton shouted "Val!"

'He's SO in love with Val…' I thought to myself as Val groaned. We helped each other up. My stamina had been depleted, so Val helped me pick up the sword. We held it together, pointing it towards the hellhound.

"On three…" Val said.

"One…" I counted.

"Two…" She said.

"Three!" We said in unison.

We charged towards the hellhound and made contact. The cloud of dust appeared.

"Oh God, Val… That was awesome!" Ashton said, going up to Val and hugging her.

'Just shut up and kiss already…' I was sickened by his lovey-dovey ness.

"Ahem, Ashton, I do believe that Cinder also destroyed that oversized German Shepard. Did she not?" Colin said in his British accent. I have always loved accents, so this made me swoon… No, no. It's nothing like that. I barely know Colin. He's just the foreign exchange student from London, England. And I'm just the head costume designer for the drama club…

That's when Chris and Sam came in with Hooves and Juniper.

"Okay, so maybe I was wrong about no training…" Juniper said.

"Well, if Hooves here hadn't been unconscious, I don't think you'd be saying that." I told her.

Grover looked at me skeptically, "Hooves? Seriously?"

"It's either that or Goat Butt. Take your pick."

"Hooves it is."

Juniper cleared her throat again in that 'you-are-so-off-topic' tone.

"We have to get to Camp Half Blood. Fast." She said.

"Wait," Val interrupted, "where is Nemesis?"

"She probably escaped when we crash landed. But that doesn't mean she's gone for good. She'll be back, and she's going to be REALLY angry when she does." Hooves warned.

"Thank you. I feel so much better now. Certain death, welcome to my life." Colin said sarcastically. I let out a small chuckle.

"Well, let's get back to the chariot." Juniper said. "Hmm, I'm not sure if Blackjack can handle all of our weight though…"

And with that, we set off across the destroyed restaurant to find the chariot again.


	4. Chapter 4: Ashton's POV

Chapter 4: I Lose my Mind… And Possibly the Girl I Like: Ashton's POV

At school I'm known as "the most popular guy" or "the dude with all of those chicks following him" or "Ahhh, it's HIM". Don't take me for the snobby jock type. Yeah, I play all the school sports, but I'm actually really down-to-earth. I've been helping out at those environmental beach cleanups since I was seven. I help tutor elementary school students twice a week. And, I'm part of the eighth grade student council.

That's where I met Valerie Hanson, actually. She's the president and I'm the vice-president. And since I've met her, I've been trying to figure out how to ask to ask her out.

But I'm not even sure if she likes me. She always seems so shy around me.

Today I was reassured though. I spontaneously gave her a hug after she—and Cinder, of course—saved Colin and I. It felt REALLY great, and I think she really liked it too.

Now I sat next to her, with my arm around her, in Grover and Juniper's chariot. We were flying… of course. Like this day could get any weirder.

Cinder was sitting next to Val too. Colin, Chris, and Sam sat on the bench behind us. Grover and Juniper answered our questions as they drove the black pegasus. Blackjack was his name? I think that's what they said.

I heard Cinder lean over and whisper to Val, "Looks like it was meant to be." Val blushed. I laid my head on hers. Oh, this day was getting better and better…

'Will you to love birds keep it down?' I heard a voice say.

"Huh?" I blurted, "Who said that?"

"Said what?" Sam asked in her soft voice.

Val looked up at me curiously, "What did you hear?"

"Um, nothing. It must be my imagination…" I replied, a little nervously.

Grover turned around as Juniper took the reins.

"So," he said in a confident tone, "anymore questions?"

Chris spoke up, "No, I think we've got it. Greek gods and goddesses have always existed. Their children, us, are demigods; the spawn of a god and a mortal."

Colin picked up there, "Monsters exist too. Like those hellhounds back there. But they can't die. They can only go to Tartartus until they are reborn…"

Sam chimed in, "So that's why we have to go to Camp Half Blood, to train until we can defend ourselves in the real world."

Cinder spoke up, "We'll be put in cabins based on who our godly parent is. We'll find out who our godly parent is because of 'claiming'."

Val looked at Grover, "Claiming is where the symbol for our godly parent appears above our head."

'Anything you'd like to add, lover boy?' I heard the voice again.

"That's it! Who said that?" I yelled.

Everyone just stared at me.

Val coughed, "Um, I was just talking about claiming, Ashton…"

"No! Not you Val! Who called me lover boy?"

An incredibly awkward silence dragged on.

'That would be me.' There it was again.

"Who are you!" I shouted.

Thunder and lighting cracked in the sky. There was a heavy rain falling. Everyone was getting drenched. We certainly weren't in San Diego anymore…

"Ah, Zeus!" Juniper looked up.

"That's the sky god right?" Sam asked.

"King of the gods too." Added Cinder.

'You want to know who I am, just look who's driving this thing!'

"Juniper?" I asked.

"What?" she said, "What is it?"

'No! Not the tree nymph!'

That explains the green skin…

'Me! The horse! Blackjack! Good gods, the boss would never treat me like this!'

"I'm talking to a horse." I said over and over, "I'm talking to a horse."

Val scooted away from me, as did all of the other demigods.

"Wait, you can talk to Blackjack?" Grover asked.

"That's what he said his name was." I ran my hands through my brunette blond hair.

"No…" Grover murmured, and then shouted, "OH GODS NO! JUNIPER, WE HAVE TO GET TO CAMP HALF BLOOD, NOW!"

Grover and Juniper rushed Blackjack.

'Hey, take it easy!' the pegasus said, 'Even I have limits you know!"

"It all makes sense!" Grover said to Juniper, "The rough skies, Ashton being able to talk to horses…" Then Grover looked up at me, "Ashton, you're not wet."

Everyone looked at me and I looked down at my clothes and discovered that while everyone else was soaked head to toe, I was completely dry.

Grover sighed, "Hail Ashton Fliter, son of Poseidon, god of the sea and horses."


	5. Chapter 5: Chris's POV

Chapter 5: Everyone Expands their Family Trees: Chris's POV

After Grover figured out Ashton was Water Boy, we got to Camp Half Blood in about an hour and a half. So one of us had found our missing parent. Cool, that probably meant I would be claimed soon, unless Grover, I mean, 'The Cloven Elder', as Juniper always corrected us, predicted our parents for us.

Not long after Grover announced Ashton's parent did a sparkly blue trident appear above his head. Juniper, the stuck-up, over-protective fiancée of Grover said this was what getting claimed looked like.

Everyone was happy for Ashton, except Ashton. He looked nervous. Maybe he felt like a let down to his father? I don't even know who my father is yet, but I already know I'm not going to make him proud.

I grew up in a trailer park with my mom. The abusive woman passed down her shiny black hair to me, probably our only similarity. She said I looked like death; that was the nicest thing she ever said to me.

I usually dressed in all black, "emo style", as the other kids say behind my back. I know people gossip about me. They say I do drugs, that I'm an alcoholic, and that I smoke. I've heard some pretty horrible things said about me.

And they're all true.

I've been pretty depressed a couple of times. I came close to hanging myself once (a memory I like to forget about), but one thing kept me going.

Cinder.

When I met her, it was love at first sight. I know that's cheesy, especially coming from me of all people. But something about that girl made me go gaga.

I've spent the past few years watching her. I know, I know, I sound like a stalker. But all teens stalk each other on Facebook. It's not like real life is much different.

I know I sound like a totally bad guy, but really I want to redeem myself. I know, however, that that will never happen. I'll just have to roll along with life, and possibly pick up Cinder along the way.

Camp Half Blood was… huge, to say the least. There were strawberry fields, tons of cabins all different from one another, and a huge blue mansion in a farm house style. Plus a combat area, a seemingly endless forest, and a rock wall… which would be normal if there wasn't any lava trickling down it.

Those are the things I picked up from my first few glimpses of the camp. All of the other demigods there (or should I say campers?) followed us to a big clearing in between the cabins. There, we were met by two campers and a… horse man. I was starting to get used to all of the weird things today. My substitute being an ancient goddess, satyrs existing, Ashton being able to talk to horses…

The campers were a boy and girl. They both looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. The girl was tan with blond wavy hair and stormy grey eyes; they were kind of intimidating. The boy was less tan with black hair and green eyes. The centaur was a white stallion… and the human part of him looked like a middle-aged man.

Grover introduced us to the campers, "Demigods, and Chiron, I present the six young heroes rescued from across the country."

Val raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me, but if it hadn't been for Cinder and I, you'd still be unconscious in that Mexican restaurant!" All of the campers laughed.

The male camper patted Grover on the back, "More enchilada eating on the job? Enchiladas always make you sleepy. I thought Cloven Elders were better than that."

"Shut up, Percy!" Grover turned to us, "Val, Ashton, Cinder, Colin, Sam, Chris… meet your new family!" Everyone cheered. We all just smiled, unsure of what to say. I managed to keep myself from saying anything awkward right off the bat. It was hard. My ADHD tends to make me blurt out whatever comes to my mind.

The blonde spoke up in a surprisingly confident tone, "I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and leader of the Athena cabin. If you haven't noticed yet, all of the cabins resemble a god or goddess."

The guy, Percy, put his arm around Annabeth, "We hope to place all of you in cabins by nightfall. If not, you'll be sleeping in the Big House. You know, the blue mansion?"

Juniper stepped in front of us gingerly, "Actually, one of them was claimed on the way here…"

"Fantastic!" The centaur (I assumed he was Chiron, the name Grover mentioned earlier) said, "Which one of you was claimed?"

Ashton took his arm off of Val's waist and stepped forward. All the campers started clapping.

"Congrats dude!" Percy said, "So, who is it?"

Grover gulped, "Well, that's the thing Percy, you see…"

"Poseidon." Ashton said.

It was absolutely silent. Percy seemed to be the most shocked. His jaw hung and his eyes were wide with disbelief.

"So he wasn't kidding…" he whispered, then he smiled at Ashton, "Well, it'll be nice to finally share the cabin with someone!" The tension was gone now. Everyone was smiling. I guessed Percy wasn't sad or angry; he had just been shocked, but happy.

Then something crazy happened.

A bunch of campers gasped and we all looked at them. They were looking at us, so I followed their gaze until I found it.

Two symbols, exactly the same, above Val and Cinder's heads. They were golden sparkly owls. They were being claimed.

Annabeth was the first to speak, "Hail Valerie Hanson and Ella-" she stopped as Cinder glared at her, and she started again, "Hail Valerie Hanson and Cinder Genv! Daughters of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. And my sisters."

How she knew their full names, I didn't know. I just guessed she was informed earlier by Grover or Juniper.

"Hey!" Chiron spoke up, "That's my job! Hmph. Nevertheless, new demigods, we have to put you through inspection and orientation."

"Um, actually, Mr. Chiron, sir," Sam's soft voice interrupted him, "Nemesis mentioned me being the daughter of… Demate? Oh, I forget the name…"

"Demeter," Annabeth said, "the goddess of agriculture and farming."

"That was it…" Sam smiled in a shy manner.

"Okay then," Chiron said loudly, "Hail Samona Ripalang, daughter of Demeter."

They took us to the Big House; that's what they called blue farm-house/mansion. They ran a full body search on each one of us. Connor and Travis Stoll, two twin children of Hermes, the god of messengers, ran the searches.

When I was done being searched, I sat on a couch with Colin, Sam, and Val. They had found my stashes of drugs, my cigarettes, my lighter, and my liquor flask. They confiscated it all, naturally. Travis looked a little concerned when he saw the stuff, and judging by the expression on Percy's face, Travis wasn't one to get worried about things like that a lot. I, apparently, was a special case. Hooray.

"Hey, watch where you put your hands!" I heard Cinder call out. Connor had been searching her, but it looks like his hand slipped too far down her back…

'If I were Connor… Man, I'd be savoring every moment of that…' I thought.

"Chris?" Colin snapped me out of it, "I think you have some drool on mouth. You'd be best to wipe that. Want to grab Cinder's attention the right way, hmm?"

Val burst out laughing. She held her stomach as she tried to control her chuckles. Even Sam, who I thought was the most shy person ever, let out a simple giggle. I looked at Colin with a death stare. He seemed rather pleased by his remark.

At this point, Cinder walked over, done with her inspection.

"What's with the laughing fest over here?" she asked.

"Nothing." I growled. But Cinder would find out. I'm sure Val would tell her. They're all buddy-buddy like that. It sickened me. But hey, I guess they're sisters now, so they'll tell each other EVERYTHING now.

To prove that fact, Val started whispering in Cinder's ear. Cinder glanced at Colin and me a few times as they exchanged girly giggles.

Finally, Ashton came over with Percy.

"So," Percy said and clapped his hands together, "We will now orientate you. There once was a video for this, but now Annabeth, Grover, Chiron, and I usually like to do this ourselves. So let's get this show on the road!"


	6. Chapter 6: Colin's POV

Chapter 6: My Brother is a Traitor: Colin's POV

Me mum suggested I do this exchange student thing in America. Actually, she had been begging me for years. I finally said yes, and I was shipped to the U.S. for eighth grade.

I actually lived in Connecticut from the ages of 2 to 5, because of me mum's business in shipping supplies. We finally got to move back after a while, and I had lived in London, England ever since.

I took the place of a boy from a school in San Diego, California. Ashton immediately befriended me when we were assigned to be lab partners in Physics. Now I think of him as my brother.

I know a lot of girls think my accent is 'dreamy'. However, even though so many girls have asked me out over the course of the school year, I haven't said yes to anyone. I don't know why that is. I guess the feeling isn't mutual…

I didn't think I was that big of deal here, but Ashton explained that with my short blond hair, tall stature, impeccable fashion sense, and, of course, the accent, girls would flock to me. I laughed at him, but I knew he was right.

I've got a lot of friends here. America has really become my home away from home. Though I never quite understood why me mum begged for me to let her spend a ton of money on the program…

Until now.

She knew whoever my father really was, and now she wanted me to discover who he was.

After Annabeth had explained that we would be learning more about Greek mythology and actually learning ancient Greek, Percy told us about training at the camp. Afterwards, Chiron explained the rules of the camp.

"No cell phones," he said, "Cell phones attract monsters. So, please hand over your phones."

We all started handing over our phones when Cinder shouted, "WHAT?"

"Um, yes… Cinder please hand over your I-phone." Chiron demanded.

"No! What about my facebook! My twitter followers? My messages on deviantArt? If I miss out on the next Jenna Marbles video, I'm going to- *gasp* DON'T TAKE AWAY TUMBLR! I'M BEGGING YOU!"

Val stroked Cinder's head as she cried and held her I-phone with her life. I saw Chris beginning to walk over to 'comfort' her as well, but I glared at him and he stopped.

I don't know why I felt so protective of Cinder. It's just, Chris is not a good guy, and he doesn't like Cinder for the right reasons.

'But, why have I not felt this way when he's made moves on other girls…?' I thought.

"Anyway," Annabeth continued after Chiron managed to pry Cinder's I-phone away from her, "You see these orange Camp Half Blood shirts Percy and I are wearing? Camp uniform. We'll get your shirt measurements later. Also, no high heeled shoes-"

"NO!" This time, it came from Val, who is the known preppy fashionista at our school. Cinder is fashionable too, but more in a punk way. Ashton seems to where surfer clothes all the time. Chris wears all black, all the time. Sam wears overalls and long sleeve shirts a lot. As for me, you could say I dress like a model for GQ. It's strange; we're all fourteen-years-old, yet we dress and act so different from one another.

"My precious…" Val said, holding her feet like they were her children.

"Okay, let's just skip the rules part for now because the next rule will probably make someone else cry too..." Percy said, "So instead, Annabeth will take Sam, Val, Ashton, and Cinder on a tour of the camp with the help of Katie Gardner. Chiron and I will take Chris and Colin to the Big House, since you guys haven't been claimed yet."

Chiron galloped ahead of us to tell the camp director we were coming. Percy led us along the trails.

"So…" Chris said, "You and Annabeth are obviously special campers. What sets you apart from some of these other people?"

Percy sighed, "Well, it's a really long story. Let's just say, we saved the world. Oh, Grover helped too. That's how he became a Cloven Elder. I'm sure Juniper mentioned that to you…"

"Oh yeah," I said, "I think she made it a point to completely drill it in our heads. Is she always like that?"

"No," Percy said, "Juniper can be cool. But with the wedding and this new threat with Nemesis, she's really stressed out. As Grover's best man, I'm trying to do everything I can to help. But if you haven't noticed, she's a bit of a control freak…"

"Just a tad." I said sarcastically, "So, you saved the world? That's kind of amazing."

"Thanks dude," he said, "Oh, by the way, if you see Ashton, tell him to meet me at cabin 2. That's my- well, our cabin now."

"Right, I'll make sure."

We finally made our way to the Big House. There was a man playing pinochle on the porch. He wore a bright purple Hawaiian shirt and his hair was slicked back. He had a can of Coke in his hand. Chiron was standing next to him.

He looked up at us, "So, out of the six, you two haven't been claimed." He leaned towards us, "Who do think your dad's are?"

I didn't expect the question, but Chris apparently had a guess in his mind, "I think… Hades. That's the god of death, right? Well, I always dress in black, my hair is black, and my mom once said I look like death… So, I'm going to go with Hades."

"No…" Percy said, "I know a son of Hades; he radiates death. His sister did too. I'm not picking that up from you."

"Then…" Chris wondered.

"Try Dionysus. The god of wine." The mysterious man said.  
"Okay. Wow, wine? That explains a lot…" I guessed he was referring to his excessive drinking, smoking, drugs, etc.

"Mr. D!" Percy gasped.

"Peter, could you please leave with the other demigod kid? You two seem to lower the I.Q. of everyone on this acre of land. In the meantime, Chiron and I are going to have a chat with Cody."

"Uh, my name is Chris…" Chris said.

Percy grabbed my arm and we quickly walked down the hill.

"Why did he call you Peter and Chris Cody?" I asked.

"He purposely gets names wrong. Speaking of names, did you figure out what his is?"

"You said Mr. D…" I made the connection, "That was Dionysus."

"Exactly. There's one other child of Dionysus, but he doesn't act like… the way Chris does. I think Dionysus is going to try to use some of his godly powers of persuasion to convince him to stop."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Godly powers of persuasion?"

"Okay, maybe not." We laughed.

"We better start your training then, since you haven't found your godly parent yet. But don't be sad about it! You know what they say, save the best for last."

We went on talking for a while on the way to the weapons shack. Percy told me about how Chiron had disguised himself as his Latin teacher when he was two years younger than we are now. I told Percy the weirdest teacher I ever had was a man named Professor Hershel Layton; he was obsessed with puzzles and his life mission was to make all of the boys in my class into proper gentlemen. Either that, or solve all the puzzles in the world. Or maybe to make us proper puzzle-solving gentlemen…

When we reached the weapons shack, Percy opened the door and it and a hundred weapons poured out.

I sighed, "Well, we better get started before sundown."

We searched for a very long time. Percy told me about the camp.

"Each cabin has a cabin leader." He said, "For instance, I'm the leader of the Poseidon cabin. Annabeth is the leader of the Athena cabin. Connor and Travis Stoll are the leaders of the Hermes cabin. And so on and so forth."

"Wait," I began to ask, "Why are there two cabin leaders for the Hermes cabin?"

"Well, they're like this." Percy crossed two of his fingers, "It just kind of made sense. You know, they weren't always the cabin leaders. It… it used to be this guy named Luke."

"Why did he stop?"

So Percy told me the story of how he saved the world with Annabeth and Grover. By the time he was done, I had already picked out a sword that I liked, but I sat on a log listening to him intensely. It was almost dark by the time he finished.

"…And that's what happened."

"Wow, that's… wow." I stared at him blankly in amazement.

"Yeah, the story is long, but it's like, common knowledge here now. It's good you know it."

"Wait…" I had just thought about a person, someone I hadn't seen since I lived in Connecticut, "What was Luke's last name?"

"Castellan. Why do you ask?"

The name hit me like how Nemesis hit us into that window back at Garcia's. I knew that name. I knew it very well.

"Colin…" Percy said quizzically, "Do you… Did you know Luke?"

"Yes," I replied, "He was my childhood best friend."

It all happened so suddenly. Percy dropped what looked like a ball point pen and pointed above me. There was a _c__aduceus_, the symbol of Hermes, if I recalled correctly. It was sparkling blue with gold.

"It looks like you two were more than best friends," he said while still in awe, "You two were brothers."


	7. Chapter 7: Sam's POV

Chapter 7: A Cave Girl Predicts My Future: Sam's POV

I have never in my life felt so special. I thought that after middle school, I would have to drop out of high school to work and help my dad pay the rent. He's a gardener, so I guess this whole thing with Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, being my mother made sense.

I don't really have any friends. Well, except flowers. I love flowers. I dreamed of being a botanist when I grew up. But now I'm a demigod, so things are different.

The tour was nice, and I got to meet my half sister, Katie. She seemed really sweet and outgoing.

After the tour, Annabeth and Katie went with Ashton to talk to Chiron, leaving me with Val and Cinder. Those two are like a pair of Siamese twins, except they're not connected (which kind of defeats the purpose of that metaphor). I thought they would just walk away and ignore me like everyone else seems to do, but they didn't.

"So Sam," Val said with the 'it's-really-awkward-so-I'm-trying-to-make-it-a-little-less' voice, "Do you want to come with us to the weapons shack?"

"Huh?" I asked, not believing that they give me the time of day, let alone ask me to look at deadly objects with them. "Uh, sure."

When we got there, it was sundown. We saw Colin talking to Percy about something, but we couldn't hear them. It looked serious though; Percy was listening to Colin with a grim expression on his face. Then Percy got up, patted Colin on the back, said something, and then they both left.

"Hm, I wonder what that was about," Cinder wondered out loud.

"Ah, Cinder, you're just interested because you have a huge crush on Colin." Val snickered.

"What? Do not! What would make you think that?"

I opened the door to the weapons shack, and what seemed like a hundred swords came out. Just when I started sifting, I heard two gasps behind me. I turned around to see Cinder and Val starring above my head.

There was a symbol, golden glowing wheat, above my head. All of a sudden, I heard panting. I looked to my left to see Katie running down the hill.

"H-h-h" she panted when she finally got to us, "Hail Samona Ripalang, daughter of Demeter, even thought we already knew that. Thanks mom." She saluted towards the sky.

She stood straight and cleared her throat, "I came down to help you choose weapons, and when I saw that you were being claimed, I ran as fast as I could."

"So, I'm officially a daughter of Demeter…" I muttered.

"All right!" Katie clasped her hands, "Now let's choose weapons!"

After a while of searching, I had found a small sickle. Katie said it had belonged to another daughter of Demeter, and it was called 'The Farmer's Plow'. I gave it a few swings and liked the feel of it. Katie grabbed a holster for me to put it in.

"Huh," I heard Val say, "Katie, can I take these knives?"

The two knives were identical. The blades were narrow and sharp and curve very slightly at the end.

"Well, knives are special. You have to be the quickest fighter to use a knife, let alone two. That particular pair is known as Dídymes Lepídes."

"Twin Blades…" Val whispered, "Whoa, how did I know that?"

"Don't worry about it," Katie smiled, "It's one of those, this thing happens and means you're destined for this thing things."

"So… I get the blades?"

"Yes."

"Sweet!"

"Alright, Cinder, it's just about time for dinner so we won't be able to pick out a weapon for you until tomorrow. Annabeth should be at the cabins. Go find her. Sam, you come with me."

Val and Cinder walked away, gazing at Val's new weapons. Katie took us a different route.

"There's someone I want you to meet first." She said.

"Why?" I asked with a bit of a whimper.

"It's obvious to me that you are extremely shy. Demigods need to be brave and courageous… and… well… I'm just not getting that vibe from you."

"Okay… Who are we meeting?" I was trying hard not to cry. I'm really sensitive, so the slightest thing could set me off. I would've started bawling at that comment Nemesis made about me at Garcia's, but I was too in shock to do anything but run.

"The oracle. Her name is Rachel. She lives in a cave."

I expected Rachel to be some primitive person after hearing she lives in a cave. But when I saw that the cave was completely decked out, I had second thoughts.

The cave was basically like an apartment, but in cave form. Along with a big T.V., there was an easel in the corner with around eighty paintings near by (it was a big cave). It seemed like a weird crash pad for an artist with too much time on his or her hands.

Katie walked us over to the bright purple couch where there was a girl taking a nap. She had bright, curly, red hair that went down to her shoulders, and she wore a big neon green shirt with a neon purple tank top under it. She had black jeans on, but they had paint all over them. Her white Converse had tons of little marker drawings on them.

"Hey Rachel!" Katie yelled.

"WAAHH!" she screamed and fell off of the couch and onto the cave floor. "Geesh! Katie, didn't you see the 'Do Not Disturb' sign at the front of the cave?"

"Sorry, this is important," Katie helped Rachel up, "Did you hear about the six new demigods?"

"Of course I did! I gave out a prophecy earlier that they would come!"

"What?" Katie jumped back.

"Yeah, I take it she's one of them?" She said, pointing to me.

"Yes, but, what prophecy?" Katie said with her eyes wide as can be.

"Grover and Juniper visited me earlier about the wedding, since I'm Juniper's matron of honor." She turned to me, "As oracle, I can't date anyone. I'm forever alone…"

Katie grabbed Rachel by the shoulders. "WHAT WAS THE PROPHECY?"

"Okay! Okay! Chill out! Grover wrote it down and gave it to me…" She searched in her pocket and found a note, "Ahem, 'Six halfbloods will set out from home. A safe haven, they will roam. A war of revenge, a goddess will create. One half blood has an unfortunate fate. A traitor fights for revenge. The world will be at risk again'."

It was silent for a while.

"Well, on the bright side, that's pretty straight forward for a prophecy! Doesn't rhyme as well, but it's still pretty nice!" Rachel tried to say to cheer Katie up.

"One of them is going to die and another is a traitor! You think this is good?" Katie yelled at Rachel.

They argued for a while, so I slipped outside of the cave and walked to the dinner pavilion. I thought about Rachel's prophecy for a while. Someone was going to die, and someone else was going to betray the rest of us.

'If we're lucky,' I thought, 'the traitor will be the one who dies.' I suddenly gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. I never thought like that. I never thought I would. I was disgusted with myself.

I finally got to the dinner pavilion. I found the table with the Demeter kids (I had remembered their faces from when we saw them on the tour) and sat with them. They were all outgoing like Katie, and that worried me. Even as a demigod, I was still different from the rest of them. I almost cried again, but I didn't. I was Sam the demigod now. I had to toughen up.


	8. Chapter 8: Cinder's POV

Chapter 8: A Deadly Object escapes my Dreams: Cinder's POV

I had to admit, Val's Twin Blades were awesome. All the way to dinner, we gawked at them and their awesomeness. Dinner was just as cool. We sacrificed a portion of our food to the gods, and our new cabin mates seemed to love us. They pointed out the epic fact that my neon orange highlights matched my new Camp Half Blood T-shirt.

They were all so logical and smart. Many of them had gotten straight A's in school. Annabeth had even been the damn architect of Olympus when they rebuilt it after the second Titan War (which they had told us about a little bit on the tour).

It was really cool to hang out with my new brothers and sisters. But there was also a problem.

I didn't belong.

How could I, the girl who's been suspended from school at least a million times be a daughter of Athena? I, the girl who's best grade was a C+. I wasn't smart like those other kids. I was just a delinquent who didn't belong.

On the bright side, Val was now officially my sister! I had always felt a strong connection with her, but now it was verified that we had the same mother. I could tell she was really happy, but I still felt strange.

I guess you could say that I've felt jealous of Val for sometime now. Okay, a lot of time. I mean, just look at Val; Straight A's, a natural-born leader, wielder of the Twin Blades (still epic), and now has a hot boyfriend. Why couldn't I be like that?

Well, she does think I have the hots for Colin, but I always tell her she's wrong. Colin's a nice guy! I could see us being friends. No, no, not like boyfriend. My friend who's a boy! My friendboy!

Okay… maybe I have the tiniest little crush on him... Great, so I'm like all of the other girls now, either flocking to Colin or Ashton. But who can help it? Just look at Colin… his accent, his kindness, the way he always protects me from Chris…

Uhg, Chris. He's such a creeper. I don't know why he's so into me, but it's messed up. Of course, with my rebel status and his criminal record, people think we're the perfect couple. In response, I say to them that I'd rather be dating Voldemort (which will so never happen because he's dead. Also, I don't approve of his lack of a nose).

After dinner, we made our way back to the cabin. Annabeth said we would share a bunk bed at the end of the, near hers. Val and I bolted.

Val tried to pull me off the ladder as the rest of the Athena kids watched in horror. After 'accidentally' kicking her in the nose, I climbed to my rightful bunk.

"TOP BUNK! CALLED IT!" I shouted to Val and my cabin mates.

Annabeth knelt down to Val, who was lying on the ground with a bloody nose. At first I thought she was crying, but then it turned out she was laughing.

"Alright Cinder, you won it… But next time, play fair!" She smiled. We all laughed with her.

"I'll get some nectar and ambrosia for that bloody nose." Annabeth said with her confident voice. "Cinder, you definitely have the makings of a good fighter. But next time, kill a monster, not your sister. Or her nose, for that matter."

I climbed down and helped Val up. She hugged me, and I remembered all of the reasons why we were such great friends.

Percy told us during orientation that demigod dreams suck. He was sure as hell right.

We went to bed after we fixed up Val's nose. I had had bad dreams since I was a little girl, but now that I knew I was a demigod, they seemed to be worse.

In the first dream, I was along side Val, Colin, Chris, Ashton, and Sam. I saw them all die, one by one, right before me. There was a voice too; I recognized it immediately.

"There's no escape, half blood," Nemesis said, "You will all die, and Olympus will be ruled by an iron fist of revenge!"

Suddenly I was sinking into the ground. The black goop grabbed at me as I screamed, until it swallowed me whole.

The second dream was much different. I was eating dinner with the Athena cabin, and they were all talking about some calculus terms I didn't understand. When I asked them to explain to me, they glared at me and said I didn't belong. A wind blew in and snuffed out the torches, and at that moment, everyone vanished. I was all alone, the outcast of the Athena cabin. I was different than them; I wasn't worthy.

"You're wrong." I heard a strong, feminine voice say.

There was a bright light, and suddenly, a woman stood in front of me. She had black hair and wore an Ancient Greek tunic with armor. She had grey eyes, just like me and Val and Annabeth. It took me a moment, but then I knew who she was.

"Mom…? I mean, Athena." I gazed at her in awe.

"Mom is fine, Ella." She must've seen me cringe at the use of my real name, "Okay, Cinder. You know, Ella is a really beautiful name. But if you don't like it, I won't use it."

"Um, thanks."

"It's not a problem. Anyway, as I was saying, you're wrong. You do belong in the Athena cabin. Cinder, you are smart, but just in a different way."

"What do you mean?" I was amazed by my mother's comment.

"Well, let's take Val for an example. She's very logical, academically smart. She's a lot like Annabeth in that way. But you are also like Annabeth."

"You think I could rebuild Olympus…?" I asked skeptically.

"Annabeth is also very wise in strategy and battle. She's quick too, which is why she wields a blade. Val now wields a blade too, if I am told correctly."

"Yeah…"

"Well, it doesn't mean that knife fighters are better than sword fighters! Or any other fighter, for that matter. It's just a fighting style, everyone has there own. But yours, Cinder, is special." She smiled at me delicately.

"What do mean? I'm no fighter…"

"Tell that to Val and her busted nose. Cinder, you were determined to get that bunk bed, so used the best strategy to do so."

"If I understand correctly, you're applauding me for beating up my sister? Any normal mother would be furious!"

The goddess of wisdom chuckled, "Well, I'm certainly no normal mother, now, am I? Cinder, you're going to become one of the greatest warriors in the history of demigods. I think a special demigod needs a special weapon…"

She held out her hands and more light shined, until a sword appeared in her hands. It was slender, and the hilt and handle were extremely ornate. The celestial bronze shimmered in a way that none of the weapons at the shack had. It looked like it had been forged by Hephaestus himself…

"Xífos ti̱s fróni̱si̱s." Athena said, "That's the name of the sword."

"Sword of Wisdom…" I automatically translated the Ancient Greek. Athena rested the sword in my hands. It felt… good. I felt empowered by the sword. I felt like I was worthy of being a child of Athena…

"We won't speak again for a long time." She told me, "But you must hear the prophecy. Ask Annabeth about it tomorrow with Val. Annabeth will have heard about it by then. You have a long journey ahead of you, Cinder. Be safe." And with that, the bright light shimmered again, and she was gone.

I woke up when Val shook me out of bed, and I fell on the floor.

"GAH!" I looked up at my smiling sister, "What was that for?"

"Partly because Annabeth needs to talk to us with the others, and partly revenge for last night's incident." She looked down at my hands. "Is that a sword? Where'd you get it?"

I looked down to realize I was holding Xífos ti̱s fróni̱si̱s. The sword had escaped my dreams along with me… But could I tell Val about my dream?

"Uh, well, I was having this dream about, um, getting a sword from the weapons shack! I must've sleep walked there and picked something out. Ooh! This is a nice sword! I'll keep it." I smiled to try and hide the lie.

Val raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Either she bought the lie, or she knew and was disappointed that I would lie to her.

"Get dressed." She said, "Annabeth and the others are waiting. We've got bad news."

"What is it?" I asked.

She sighed, "It's easier to just show you…" And with that, she grabbed me (even though I only had enough time to change my shirt. So now I was wearing my camp T-shirt, navy blue sweatpants, and I was barefoot.) and dragged me to my dangerous future.


	9. Chapter 9: Val's POV

Chapter 9: I Speak My Mind about Our Battle Plans (And My Love Life): Val's POV

Annabeth had already informed me on a few things after Cinder had gone to sleep.

Rachel's prophecy

Okay, so someone was going to die… not good… And the other's a traitor? But we all just learned about being demigods! Who could already be a traitor?

Our training

After today's meeting, she told me we would begin our training and stay in Camp Half Blood for at least three days.

Ashton's… feelings for… me.

Apparently, Ashton had confided in Percy about his, um, crush on me. And Percy told Annabeth, who told me.

This was a pretty crazy thing to think about while I fell asleep. I only got a few hours of sleep, obviously, and woke up very early. I got my set of Camp Half Blood t-shirts from Annabeth (who was also fretting about the new prophecy). I tucked in my t-shirt into my tight-fitting khaki Capri's which I paired with my pink belt with lime green stripes. That belt matched pink Converse with lime green laces, so I wore those too.

Lastly, I put on my black pearl necklace. My dad gave me this necklace when I was little; he said it was a memento of my great grandmother, who he met once. He loved her. He said there was something about her that was just enchanting. She was 62, but she could've been 20. I wear the necklace everyday, not as a reminder of my great grandmother, but of my father.

Anyway, fast forward a few hours and I'm dragging Cinder to the Big House. It's huge and blue and so pretty. We see Colin and Ashton walking together and wave to them. They walk to us.

"'Ello girls," Colin said to us smiling, "Ready for the meeting?"

Cinder grumbled, "Too early…" She wiped the sleep out of her eyes.

Ashton laughed, "How about you Val?"

"I- um," I choked on my own words. Luckily for me, Chiron called to us from the porch of the Big House. Colin put his arm around Cinder and encouraged her to wake up for the meeting. Ashton and I walked together slowly. I drew upon my confidence to ask him the burning questions.

"So Ashton, uh, what are we now?" I stopped and looked into his deep blue eyes.

He looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, are we friends? More than friends…?"

He took my hands, squeezed them delicately, and smirked, "We can be whatever you want to be."

I smiled, and I could feel myself blushing. I'll be honest… I would've kissed him right there if Chris had not called us from the Big House.

"Hey! Come on! They can't start without you two!" he yelled impatiently.

We ran to the Big House to sit in on the meeting. Technically, we're guests at the meeting, so we're not _supposed_ to say anything. Of course, knowing everyone, that rule is going to get broken…

We sat at a ping pong table- that's right, a ping pong table- with our cabin leaders. Cinder and I sat on both sides on Annabeth. On my other side was Ashton, who sat next to Percy. Sam and that Katie girl were sitting next to Cinder. Chris sat next to some guy I'd never seen before (probably his brother). Colin sat next to two mischievous looking guys; probably twins. Grover was there too, sitting next to Chiron (who was standing, of course). On the other side of Chiron was a large man in a Hawaiian shirt drinking a can of Coke.

There were a few other people there too who I assumed were from other cabins.

The Coke man coughed with frustration, "For those halfbloods who haven't had the pleasure of meeting me yet, I'm Dionysus. Call me Mr. D. Anyway, I hear that we must issue a quest to these new demigods. But the lack of training has become a problem."

Chiron nodded, "The halfbloods weren't even at camp yet when Rachel gave the prophecy."

"Which _Grover_ forgot to mention." Katie hissed.

Grover put down the tin can he was chewing on and swallowed nervously, "I-I'm sorry! I wanted to help out, and I was nervous! So, Juniper and I grabbed the Ares cabin's chariot, stole Percy's pegasus, and rode across the country. We saved the demigods! If we hadn't come, they would've been torn to tiny pieces by the hellhounds!"

_Not quite the visual I needed Grover_, I thought to myself.

Percy spoke up in his confident tone, "I don't blame Grover. In this situation, he did the right thing. I don't even mind him stealing Blackjack! The thing is, the demigods are here and they're safe. Now we have to train them and send them off to defeat Nemesis before she destroys Olympus. That means, like Mr. D said, a quest needs to be issued, which means someone must lead the quest… Any takers?"

None of us expected this, that's for sure. I saw Sam shift in her seat uncomfortably. Colin was looking to his brothers for aide, but neither said anything.

_Oh goodness… Any one who is going to stand up and say 'Me!' is either courageous or stupid,_ I thought.

Right on cue, Chris leapt out of his seat shouting, "Me!"

_Let's go with stupid…_

Mr. D snickered, "Kid, you've got moxie. But you lack experience… and the ability to pass a drug test." That shut him Chris up. Everyone's eyes went to the floor as Chris sat down and sank into his chair. I've never liked Chris, but I knew that must've been rough. I mean, getting burned like that- by your dad nonetheless- in front of all of your friends? Seriously not good.

Now Ashton stood, "I think Val should lead. She was a leader at our school; she has experience with handling large groups. It's the perfect role for her." I blushed.

But then Colin chimed in, "Val, I don't mean to offend, I really don't. But who says that being student body president means you can lead a war against an all mighty immortal being? I think Cinder has the fighting skills we need to win this thing."

I wasn't mad a Colin. I really could respect what he was saying. I was just a student council president; I didn't know anything about fighting.

Chris started complaining that he should be the leader because of his pure awesomeness. Sam refrained from saying anything, but Cinder jumped up and openly said that she didn't want Chris to be leader. No, she wanted Colin to be the leader. At this point, Annabeth and Percy came in with thoughts about us and started contemplating about each person individually. One girl from another cabin, who seemed rather scary and intimidating, said that someone from Ares should lead the quest since we have no experience. Chiron and Mr. D kept going back and forth on different ideas as well. Everyone was yelling; it was chaotic.

Suddenly, I felt like everything was closing in on me. The walls were caving in. The people were getting bigger and louder. One day ago, everything was simple. I was Val Hanson, the nice girl who had everything going for her. I was the queen of the Drama Department. Now I was on my way to battle an insane Greek goddess who wanted to kill me. I just wanted everything to-

"Stop." I whispered.

I thought the whisper wouldn't make a difference. I thought everyone would go on fighting. But no; they all stopped and turned to listen to me. I gathered my confidence, got out of my seat, stood my ground, and let the words flow.

"None of us have been here long. None of us know anything about this world. None of us are qualified for this. So now you all are focusing on who is MOST qualified. Well, here's an idea. Why don't we focus on who deserves it? And the person who deserves it… the person I defeated hellhounds with at Garcia's… Cinder." People were nodding in agreement and Cinder never took her eyes off me for a second.

I continued, "Cinder does have the fighting skill, as Colin said. But she has great judgment too. Also, her strategic ability is amazing! Annabeth, you saw how she practically broke my nose last night. She had a goal, and she used the best strategy to achieve it! Therefore, Cinder should be our leader for this quest."

I didn't think it was a great speech. I mean, it really wasn't anything special. But everyone applauded me. They chanted Cinder's name. The look of happiness on Cinder's face- that was priceless. She mouthed a silent thank you to me as I sat and Annabeth stood.

"Okay," she said, "What the Hades was that? Val, you just charmspoke! But that's impossible since you're a daughter of Athena, not Aphrodite."

Chiron stroked his beard, "Yes, I admit this is strange. On the other hand, it seems as if we have found the leader of our quest. Cinder, come with me and we'll talk about your role as the leader. You might want to choose your companions for the quest now, however."

Cinder kicked her feet up onto the ping pong table and crossed her arms, "Okay… Well, obviously, Val, Colin, Ashton, Sam, and Chris…"

Percy's smile faltered, "I'm afraid you can only choose two companions for your quest. Sorry. Camp rules and tradition."

"Oh," Cinder frowned, "Well THAT sucks… Uh… Can I get more time to think about this?"

"Okay," Mr. D sighed in annoyance, "Just make sure you have it figured out by tomorrow noon. Got that Cathy?"

"My name is Cinder…"

"Whatever Clara. Go have your chat with Chiron. As for the rest of you, get to your activites!"

My bloody nose started acting up again, so I got some nectar and told the rest of the Athena cabin I would meet with them at archery practice in a few minutes. I was leaving my cabin when I saw Ashton by his cabin. He waved at me to come over, and I did. Hey, they expected me to be late anyways. A short detour wouldn't hurt.

He invited me to walk on the shore break of the lake with him. He put his arm around my shoulder as we strolled.

"Val…" he said, "You were really something special today. Well, I take that back. You've always been special."

My cheeks were getting warmer, "Thanks Ashton."

We stopped. Not abruptly or anything. We just slowed down to a stop. He slipped his hands down to my waist. Then he tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. No one else was on the beach. Just Ashton and I…

"Listen Val, I have a confession-"

I cut him off though… I slipped my arms around his neck and kissed him. It was beautiful. The sun was high over the sky and we were on that beach for what seemed like forever.

Eventually, I pulled away. I smiled, "Me too."

He smirked and hugged me. Then we heard giggling. We turned to see the water nymphs pointing at us. Ashton used some of his 'Son of Poseidon' powers and caused a huge geyser of water to shoot them into the air. As the started to fall down, he had the water engulf them in a large swallow and plop them back into the lake with a splash so huge it almost got us wet.

My boyfriend and I laughed as we walked further along the beach.


End file.
